As much as I always loved 24's format of nonstop shows every week, it always makes the offseason that much harder, because it's so long. Now we'll be seeing the same thing with LOST, as it goes on hiatus until February or so. Fortunately, I still have to re-watch Season 3, as I sort of took a break after re-watching the first two seasons, and I'm sure there are extras on all the DVDs that I haven't watched yet, so not all is lost. Ha, I'm so punny.

I actually didn't get a chance to watch the season finale until Sunday because Melissa had some family in town. I managed to avoid any serious spoilers (I think I read that we would find out who was in the coffin, which I had assumed we were going to find that out anyways, although thinking back, the title of Julius' LOST post pretty much gave that away, although it never dawned on me when I saw it in my Google Reader). I was a little worried, however, because I had been getting this opinion from people who had either read spoilers or watched the episode that the show had done that dirty little thing called "jumping the shark. I thought that probably wasn't the case, because often times I find critics of LOST don't really understand what the show is about, but it definitely got me a little anxious. Fortunately I didn't really have anything to worry about. I thought the episode was great, and I love that the season finale can literally set up the last two full seasons of a show. One of those nice things about having an endpoint in place, and more importantly, having the company airing your shows (ABC) in agreement.

It was an interesting season finale, because, due to the constant flash forwards, most everything on the show played out how we expected it to, and even the surprises weren't that surprising. But...that's not a bad thing. As I said, the finale was a set up for the next two seasons. Honestly, I have no idea where we will be when Season 5 rolls around, as in, what time will be "the present" during each episode. We have seen different times in the flash forward, but apparently the most significant time period is a few years after the rescue, where Locke, under the name of Jeremy Bentham, appears to the survivors, and then inexplicably dies. So, does that time period at some point become the present, and everything we missed inbetween is shown to us in flashbacks? Or do we continue on our normal time path, and witness more of the future in our flash forwards?

It doesn't seem to me that it is very feasible for the show to continue on it's present timeline. Once they are off the island, aside from smaller incidents (Hurley going back to the mental hospital, Sun having her baby, Kate's charges being dropped, etc.), it appears to be business as usual for the survivors. Jack and Kate, who live together and raise Aaron, don't seem to encounter issues until Locke shows up and says something to Jack. Sayid starts getting into it the earliest, as he begins working for Ben as an assassin, but we can learn more about that from flashbacks, and things change for him too because of Bentham, as he goes to get Hurley out of the hospital. Sun seems to be living her life, raising her child, owning her father's company, when an appearance from Bentham suddenly draws some interest from her to seek out Mr. Charles Widmore in a possible alliance.

So, it's not that nothing happens in the three years between the rescue and when Locke shows up, but it seems to me that the important stuff that can carry the rest of the show happens down the road, with the Survivors, Ben, and Locke. Everything else that we've missed, the fate of those on the island, the battle between Ben and Widmore, how many babies Penny and Desmond have, we can get caught up by flashbacks. Nothing more than a hunch, but it would seemingly make sense to pick up the show in the future when it returns next year.

Let's get to some quick hits:

-Well, we know Locke is going to get a name change, then he's going to get dead, and no one besides Jack really seems to care. What could he have possibly told Jack that could affect him so much that he would all of a sudden believe that they were supposed to stay on the island, that Locke was right, and even make him contemplate suicide? I personally can't wait for that confrontation, because it's going to be awesome. What happened on the island that caused Locke to leave? It was mentioned that things had gotten bad on the island. Because of Locke? Very interested to see what becomes of Sawyer, Juliet, and the rest of the Others.

-Ben moved the island (After stabbing Mr. Green-Beret-bullets-don't-stop-me-only-slow-me-down Keamy in the neck). The obvious question is, where, and when, did he move it to. And was he telling the truth when he said he couldn't come back after he moved it? That's the thing about Ben, you always have to take anything he says to Locke with a grain of salt, because ultimately Locke enjoys sitting right in Ben's pocket, and Ben feeds him little morsels of information every once in a while, and Locke takes them and is just happy to be along for the ride, even if it's not all true. One thing that seems to fit together, though, is that Ben has his winter parka on, the same parka he showed up in when he appeared in the desert. So...perhaps he does leave the island, and goes to the desert..

-Jin. :( I was really holding out hope that he would end up on the island. I guess it's possible he jumped off before the ship blew up, but I'm not exactly holding my breath. I can certainly see why Sun was a little cold to Jack after they got back to the US.

-Another plus to moving the show into the future? You can show Walt on TV again without having everyone giggle about how he's gone from being 10 to 19 over the course of several months.

-I love in Jack's bitterness that he tries to claim that Locke/Ben didn't move the island, and then Hurley totally owned him in the process.

-I'm sure we haven't heard the end of Mr. Faraday. Certainly interested in hearing what happens to him. Probably didn't get back to the island before it disappeared. So...what does that mean for him? He's a fairly frail guy, so if everyone in the boat turns to cannibalism, I don't like his chances. He certainly didn't fare too well the last time he was put in that situation.

-Another advantage to putting the show in the future? We don't have to look at Aaron, the hulking three-month old anymore.

I'm sure there's plenty more I could discuss, but this is probably long enough already, so I will stop for now. I might post my findings during my Season 3 review, we'll see.